During early childhood development, parents often begin instruction of their child on the use of a toilet to relieve themselves. This period is often referred to as "toilet training" and during this time the child is encouraged to use the toilet rather than persist in relying upon diapers or the like. As is readily apparent, it is highly desirable to reduce the amount of time it takes to instruct small children on the proper use of a toilet. However, such instruction requires patience and perseverance on the part of the parent since children are highly individual on how they will react to the training.
As a result, a variety of devices have been developed to encourage children to use a toilet during the toilet training period. Whether dealing with male or female children, a device that makes urination into the toilet enjoyable for the child is desirable. It is believed that attracting the child's attention to the toilet will encourage urination therein and therefore alleviate or avoid the stress normally encountered during the training period.
A variety of prior art device exists to assist in toilet training young children. For example, visible targets have been placed within the toilet or affixed to the open face of the toilet. Still other devices have included thin paper stock elements with indicia or other configurations that float on the surface of the toilet water and attract attention. Yet another device includes an electrical circuit means that emits music, buzzers or the like upon successful use of the toilet.
Each of these prior art devices are either too complicated, expensive to manufacture, difficult to clean or non-reusable. Further, prior art devices positionable over the open face of the toilet tend to deflect the urine and cause splashing which is counterproductive to the training.
A need has therefore existed within the art for a toilet training device that attracts the attention of the child and encourages use of the toilet in a proper manner while reducing the toilet training time period and at the same time is of relatively low cost and reusable.